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Wednesday, April 15, 2009

One of my favorite dishes at Chili's is their Monterey Chicken. Every time we go there that is the one dish I get every time. We don't get to go out and eat as often as we like anymore but, that's OK with me. Eating out is the one thing that we really had to cut back on since I stay home with the kids. Eating out and fast food can really hit your pocket book hard. Sometimes your don't even realize it.

You know there are some days I don't even miss it. I mean don't get me wrong I do love to go out and have a great meal that I don't have to prepare. We do go out and eat occasionally, but not as often as we used to when DH and I both worked. It is amazing how you can recreate some of your favorite take out foods right at home. Monterey Chicken being one of them.

All that cheesy, barbecue, oniony, bacony goodness it just makes me weak at my knee's. I dont even think some of those are actual words, but that's the only way to describe it. Imagine my surprise when I got The Hungry Housewife's recipe newsletter and saw her Copy Cat version for BBQ Cheesy Chicken aka Monterey Chicken. I just happened to have Monterey Chicken listed on my March Menu but, I was still searching around for a great recipe.

Well this was a tried and true recipe so, that was the one I made. This chicken was totally out of this world awesome!!!!!!! It is definitely a keeper in our house. Everyone loved it except Carson, but he is so darn picky and only thinks hot dogs and PB & J Sandwiches are good right now. I know one day he will broaden his horizons.

Sprinkle some Tony Chachere’s, optional on both sides of the chicken breasts. Place seasoned chicken breasts in large zip lock bag and pour enough BBQ sauce in bag to cover the chicken. Marinate them in the fridge from about 30 minutes - 1 hour.

Thinly slice your desired amount of onions I would use at least one good size onion it will shrink down in size. Coat lightly with vegetable oil and Season with salt and pepper. In a dutch oven fitted with a lid, I had to use a glass covered casserole dish bake for around 1 hour, or until desired color is reached. Make sure you stir them every 15 minutes so they don't burn.

In a large oven proof skillet (I used my cast iron skillet), on the stove top over medium heat, saute chicken until mostly done, about 4 minutes per side. If your chicken breasts are a bit thicker you will need to saute them a little longer.

Remove the skillet from heat and add some barbecue sauce over the chicken breasts and bake the chicken, covered in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until cooked through (165 degrees) on a meat thermometer. Remove from oven and set the oven temp to broil. Place the oven rack 4 inches from heat.

Pour some additional barbecue sauce over chicken. Place desired amount of onions on the chicken, cover with cheese (how ever much you want) Place bacon on top. Yum now this is really starting to come together. Just look at that picture. I added a toothpick or two to hold down the bacon from curling.

Place pan in the oven and broil until the bacon has crisped up, about 5 minutes.

Sprinkle some Tony Chachere’s, optional on both sides of the chicken breasts. Place seasoned chicken breasts in large zip lock bag and pour enough BBQ sauce in bag to cover the chicken. Marinate them in the fridge from about 30 minutes - 1 hour.

In a large oven proof skillet (I used my cast iron skillet), on the stove top over medium heat, saute chicken until mostly done, about 4 minutes per side. If your chicken breasts are a bit thicker you will need to saute them a little longer.

Remove the skillet from heat and add some barbecue sauce over the chicken breasts and bake the chicken, covered in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until cooked through (165 degrees) on a meat thermometer. Remove from oven and set the oven temp to broil. Place the oven rack 4 inches from heat.

Pour some additional barbecue sauce over chicken. Place desired amount of onions on the chicken. Cover with cheese (how ever much you want) Place bacon on top. I stuck a toothpick or two through the bacon to keep it from curling while broiling.

Place pan in the oven and broil until the bacon has crisped up about 5 minutes. Remove from oven and cool a bit before serving.

How to Caramelize Onions
Preheat oven to 425. Thinly slice your desired amount of onions. Coat lightly with vegetable oil Season with salt and pepper. In a dutch oven or casserole dish fitted with a lid, bake for around 1 hour, or until desired color is reached Make sure you stir them every 15 minutes so they don't burn.

33 comments:

We don't have a Chili's within 45 minutes, so I have never eaten there, but this looks fantastic! I'm getting ready to write it down. I can't wait to try it! I had actually bought the stuff for another chicken dish, but I think I may make this one instead. The recipe I want to be able to recreate would be garlic sauce. I always order a great steamed veggies with garlic sauce when we go to Chinese and the sauce is to die for. I wish I knew what in the heck it had in it! I've tried, but am not that familiar with asian ingred. and was not even close!

We used to do lunch at Chili's when I was working but I never make it to Chili's anymore - the closest one to our home is right next door to T.G.I.Friday's and across the street from Outback, they always seem to win the vote when we're out eating over that way. I never ate this though. This just looks so good - definitely a keeper! Thanks!

We don't go out to eat as often either now that I stay at home with my son. And you're right - you can totally copy your favorite restaurant recipes and they're just as good. I love chili's, so this sounds fantastic!!

I could bribe my 14 year old son with that recipe! I may have to try it too. I recently made up a recipe for Penne Gorgonzola which is a copycat for a dish served at Johnny Carino's. It was easy and yum.

I use all the same ingredients and shred the cooked chicken, then heat up some tortillas, place the all ingredients between two tortiallas and then cook quesadillas in a skillet with a little butter. My whole family loved these (including a 5 yo and 1 year old). Maybe Carson will too!

I just received my first Cast Iron Skillet for Christmas, and thanks to you I've successfully made 2 delicious meals. The Iron Skillet Pizza, and Monteray Chicken were AWESOME. Thanks for the simple recipes and keep em' coming!

My family (including our 3 year old) LOVES this dish! Every last bite was gone! Plus I got to use our cast iron pan for the first time! The next time I made the recipe we shared with my sister in law's family and the loved it too! I passed on the recipe. Thanks for making dinner a success!